Although
they did not stand in this location in Roman times, these columns have now
become a part of the Nyon landscape. Just as other parts of the forum were
re-used centuries ago in other buildings, so too these columns and cornice
have been placed in another context, in another time.

The
text in English reads: The Roman columns. It was about 45 BC when the
Romans created Colonia Iulia Equestris on the shores of Lake Geneva, between
the Gex region, the Jura and the Aubonne. Noviodunum, the urban center
of this territory, was built on the very site of the present town of Nyon.
The columns and the cornice that surmounts them were reassembled on the
Esplanade des Marroniers in 1958, when Nyon celebrated its 2000th anniversary.
Originally, they belonged to the partly raised porticos in the sacred
area of the forum situated in the town center. The ornamentation,
dating from the middle of the first century AD, reveals artistic influences
from southern Gaul.

The
drawing shows a reconstruction of the crypto-portico A and the portico
B of the sacred area, with the columns and cornice in their original positions
C.

This
sign is the unfortunate victim of graffitti.

The view from the place
des Marroniers looks out over the lake. Land which has not been built on
in recent times always leads one to wonder what might be buried there...